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Articles about quality, environmental and safety compliance issues.

Report from our Summer Intern

Below is a report from our first summer intern. Natalie Black is a Concordia University Computer Science major with a keen interest in web technology, software and programming. She has been a great addition to the team and we are sad to see her return to full-time class this fall. – Jonathan Brun

My summer as a student developer at Nimonik has not been at all what I expected from my first internship. But then, Nimonik isn’t a typical company.

At Nimonik I have been treated as an equal member of the team despite being an intern. This means I have been able to sit in on all team meetings, encouraged to contribute ideas (both technical and otherwise), and have been trusted with challenging technical projects. However, being a student developer, I have also been allowed time to learn the skills and knowledge required to complete these projects.

And learn I have. Over the past four months I have gained knowledge in a variety of subjects. Some expected – such as Ruby on Rails, JavaScript and JQuery, Test-Driven Development, databases, version control – and others unanticipated – such as character encodings, sales and marketing strategies, EHS legislation and auditing procedures.

One of the things that has struck me the most about Nimonik is their dedication to transparency. I don’t feel that any information – be it financial figures, source code, or new potential clients – has been kept from me during my time here. Besides any practical applications of having access to such data, I think that being so open is good for company morale.

The downside of my experience at Nimonik (if it can be considered a downside) is that from now on I will have low tolerance for uninteresting or monotonous work, and that I have come to expect to be treated as a respected equal despite having limited experience. This narrows down my choices for where to work in the future, but if being spoiled by an amazing work term is my biggest problem then I consider myself lucky.